Chapter 7
“I—I’m sorry!” Adrian blurted out frantically. “I really didn’t mean to push myself either! But a monster was about to break into a village, and……!”
Adrian rambled on in a fluster, using wild hand gestures to illustrate his point. To sum it up, a monster invasion had almost devastated a village on the outskirts of the Empire.
“So, what you’re saying is, you did push yourself?” Sabina, who had been staring at him intently for a good while, threw the question out flatly.
Adrian stiffened his shoulders. Then, he subtly turned his head away.
“W-Well…… I suppose it could seem that way, but then again, maybe not?”
“…….”
“But it was ABSOLUTELY not intentional…….” Adrian merely rolled his eyes, carefully checking her reaction.
He looked exactly like a puppy caught chewing on a shoe. For a moment, Sabina found herself feeling quite amused.
‘He’s probably not lying.’
A great crisis must have indeed struck the village. Had Adrian not desperately held the line, that village might have truly vanished from the map. Despite all his faults, Sabina genuinely considered Adrian a good person. A man who truly lived up to the title of ‘Hero.’ He was righteous, kind, and warm-hearted.
However, most of the ‘good people’ Sabina used to know had a tendency to leave this world far too early……
“Phew.”
Finally letting out a long sigh, Sabina gestured for Adrian to come closer. “Fine. Come over here.”
Adrian looked at her tentatively. “……Are you forgiving me?”
“Well, you keep insisting on giving me overtime work, Adrian…… What choice do I have?” Sabina shrugged her shoulders playfully. “If the employer demands it, a powerless worker like me simply has to follow along.”
“…….”
Adrian’s shoulders slumped entirely. Meanwhile, watching him act so defeated, the corners of Sabina’s lips twitched upward into a tiny smirk.
At that exact moment, his green eyes widened in surprise. “Sabina, did you just smile?”
“Pardon? I have no idea what you are talking about,” Sabina retorted, shifting her expression in the blink of an eye.
But right then.
Maybel, who had been sitting quietly by their side, blinked her clear, round eyes and spoke up. “Liar. You totally smiled.”
“…….”
Sabina shot a resentful look at her beloved familiar. Seriously, May, why must you be so incredibly honest only at times like this?!
***
Following that.
Sabina guided Adrian over to the living room and had him sit on the sofa. “Now, could you extend your arm?”
Adrian submissively entrusted his body to Sabina. Lightly gripping his wrist, Sabina began to carefully channel her mana into him. As the mana seeped into his system, the tension on Adrian’s face gradually smoothed away.
He let out a soft chuckle. “You really are highly competent, you know?”
“I need to concentrate, so do not speak to me,” Sabina snapped, knitting her brows.
Yet, contrary to her prickly tone, the mana circulating through Adrian’s body was incredibly gentle. Adrian firmly swallowed the laugh that threatened to escape his lips.
‘For someone talking like that, she’s treating me with immense care.’
The flow of her mana, repairing his cracked Aura Heart and organizing his tangled aura, was exceptionally delicate.
An Aura Heart. Just as a high-ranking mage like Sabina possessed a Mana Heart, a knight possessed an Aura Heart. It required training for at least a few years, or even decades, to accumulate pure aura within the body, eventually forming an Aura Heart near the physical heart. It rested inside the body in the shape of a gemstone, and mages or knights would draw out mana or aura from these respective hearts. It was thanks to this ‘Heart’ that they could manifest miracles, such as summoning storms with magic or slicing through boulders with a sword.
Naturally, it was the most vital and sensitive part of any knight or mage.
‘Well, I suppose I can understand why Sabina is so mad……’
Adrian groaned inwardly. To be perfectly honest, he had pushed himself quite a bit this time, fully relying on Sabina’s healing abilities. From her perspective, it must look like he was merely getting hurt over and over again the moment she finished patching his Aura Heart up.
Right then.
“Hmm.”
Sabina’s expression hardened slightly. Tilting her head up, she looked at Adrian and made a serious proposal. “Could you take off your shirt?”
“……What?”
For a split second, Adrian doubted his own ears.
‘Did I just hear her correctly?’
Take off his shirt?
Meanwhile, Sabina, who had been staring blankly at Adrian as if wondering what was wrong, suddenly flushed bright red. The realization of what kind of misunderstanding her words could cause had hit her a moment too late.
“T-That is not what I meant! You know that?!” Sabina blurted out, her voice rising instinctively. Her face burned so intensely that even the tips of her ears felt hot. “The Aura Heart is located near the physical heart. Channeling mana directly next to the heart yields the highest efficiency for treatment.”
“Um, Sabina?”
“S-So this is purely for medical purposes. I absolutely do not hold any sinister intentions……!” Sabina babbled on, completely flustered.
On the other hand, looking at the panicking Sabina, Adrian couldn’t help but find her a bit…… ‘cute.’ A grin slipped onto his face without him realizing. “Oh, come on, Sabina. Why are you suddenly being so shy around me?”
Replying playfully, he casually pulled off his shirt and tossed it aside.
‘Ah.’
Sabina froze stiff. Her wide, crimson eyes were instantly filled with the sight of his tightly sculpted upper body. His broad shoulders, his firm chest, and his delicately defined abdominal muscles. Adrian’s physique resembled a masterpiece chiseled directly by the hands of a god. Even the subtle rising and falling of his muscles with every breath he took held her gaze in an strangely hypnotic grip.
Sabina felt her throat go completely dry. However, she did her absolute best to maintain a composed facade.
‘No, this is just part of the treatment.’
It wasn’t as if this was her first time seeing Adrian’s bare body. Back in the forest when she had rescued the heavily injured Adrian, she had been forced to remove his clothes to treat his wounds, which were covering him from head to toe. Yet, the reason she couldn’t help but be hyper-aware of his body right now was……
‘Seriously, why did he have to look at me with those eyes?!’
He had looked at her with wide, round eyes as if she truly possessed some suggestive intentions, causing her to get entirely swept up in the awkwardness as well.
Right as Sabina was biting her lip in sheer frustration—
“Sabina.”
“…….”
“Sabina?”
Gasp.
Sabina caught her breath in surprise. Snapping her head up, she realized Adrian was staring intently at her.
“Aren’t you going to treat me?”
“Ah, right. Of course I must.”
Forcing her expression into composure, Sabina extended her hand. Her subtly trembling fingertips made contact with Adrian’s bare chest.
At that exact moment, Adrian clenched his jaw.
‘Wow, I’m starting to become a bit hyper-aware of this too.’
Honestly, he hadn’t thought anything of it when he took his shirt off, but seeing Sabina—who usually blew past him like a freezing winter wind—trembling in such a tense state right before his eyes…… made Adrian begin to feel strangely conscious of her as well.
“Um, Sabina?”
“Shh.”
Adrian had called out to her gently, but Sabina cut him off instantly.
“I need to focus, so stay quiet.”
